DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," was published in May 2013, amidst a storm of controversy. This article focuses on changes made to the diagnostic criteria for Specific Learning Disorders (SLD). Primary criticisms of the changes in the SLD concern…

Literature exists to support the statement that children suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The diagnosis is not one that is commonly made in children and is generally considered occurring in returning war veterans or adult victims of trauma, including incest. The American Psychological Association (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical…

The purpose of this article is to analyze parental use of an online support group about their children with disabilities. A content analysis was conducted of 1718 emails from a listserv support group for parents of children who have been diagnosed as eligible for special education services. Key topics included the following: How to deal with…

While the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) has retained its popularity within the clinical community for over 40 years, some investigators have criticized its ability to provide an accurate diagnosis. Codetype systems of MMPI score interpretations were developed and a predictive relationship between codetypes and diagnoses was…

Currently, research is being performed in the area of nonsurgical and nonchemical means for influencing the body's threshold for pain. Today, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is being widely used for this purpose. Application of this treatment can be confusing, however, because determining such things as selection of the proper…

Used reliability generalization to explore the variance of scores on 10 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) clinical scales drawing on 1,972 articles in the literature on the MMPI. Results highlight the premise that scores, not tests, are reliable or unreliable, and they show that study characteristics do influence scores on the…

Presidential address at 1990 annual meetings of the American Association of Suicidology provides overview of how suicide assessment could be improved in the next decade. Focuses on new assessment rationale and techniques to improve suicide assessment. Describes both suicide assessment techniques that have been used for years and newer techniques…

The author describes a model which social workers can use in gathering data for diagnosing suspected handicapping conditions. Steps in social work assessment are reviewed, including analysis of current functioning, past functioning, and the effects of the operational system. (CL)

In recent years the pace has been accelerating by which changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) systems are made. Revisions occur before extensive empirical knowledge can be drawn upon to guide these changes. For substance use disorders, the criteria have undergone changes from DSM-III to DSM-III-R, and from…

Variables such as low socioeconomic level, educational level, marital status, employment status, sex role orientation, and level of acculturation have been cited as contributing to depression among Hispanic women. While most of these conclusions have been based on between-group comparisons against Anglo women, this study was conducted to examine…

This study sought to determine whether a short form of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery could discriminate between senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type and depression in a sample of elderly neuropsychiatric patients. The short form Luria-Nebraska includes 141 of the 269 items contained in the original version, with the Rhythm scale…

The study, involving 15 nonhandicapped and 15 handicapped infants, investigated parental estimates of infant developmental functioning as a function of parental attitudes. Examined was the relationship between source of evaluation (mother, father, diagnostician), infant temperament category, and factors of maternal attitude (such as appropriate…

The mental health needs of disaster victims remains a largely neglected area, possibly due to other pressing demands placed on available resources and to the difficulties in correctly detecting psychiatric cases by the general health worker. This study attempted to use a questionnaire suitable to primary care settings for the detection of probable…

A study involving a sample of people selected to represent the nonimpaired American population, aged 16 to 74 years, was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of the Wechsler Memory Scale--Revised. The scale's subtests were designed to assess memory of personal and general knowledge, logical memory, verbal paired association, figural memory,…

The use of the 1980 Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III) alcohol abuse and depedence diagnostic system rests on the assumption that dependence is physiological and more severe than abuse. To examine the relationship of DSM-III alcohol abuse/dependence diagnoses to patients' patterns of alcohol use and the…